Reunion
by Lineoflights
Summary: Some days after Friagne's defeat, two individuals and their Contractors left Misaki City. But when two people meet once again, events that were put on hold begin to play once more.
1. An unexpected departure

Disclaimer: I do not own anything concerning Shakugan no Shana

Since this was bugging my head a bit, I decided to try this out. Of course, if I do continue this, there will be some problems I have to pass, which I will note at the end of this chapter.

Oh, and this story, if you couldn't figure it out from the first paragraph, separates from the anime after Friagne is defeated.

So, enjoy. Oh, and the slight OOC warning from everything else I write is in effect here too.

* * *

Friagne the Hunter and Margery Daw, the Chanter of Elegies. Three days had passed since they both had been defeated by Shana, the Flame-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter, who had been taking the place of the devoured Yukari Hirai. Three days since Yuji Sakai learned of the Midnight Lost Child within him. Three days since a sense of peace had returned to Misaki City. It is then that this story takes place.

Yuji Sakai, a Mystes with the Midnight Lost Child, which stopped him from burning out so long as he had a slimmer of his existence out at midnight, had just awoken and was being rushed by Shana, a Flame Haze who wielded the Nietono no Shana, to get ready for today's training. Yuji, who was somewhat perceptive, noticed that Shana put in much more energy to hurry him up than usual, asked about this particular issue.

"Hey, Shana, what's up? You're much more energetic than usual today."

"Nothing! Now hurry up and get ready!"

"All right, all right." Replied Yuji, who was still curious but decided against pursuing the matter to avoid being struck by something much more dangerous than a simple tree branch. Nietono no Shana was quite sharp, after all.

Training that day had proceeded as usual, with Yuji unable to dodge to his full potential, and being hit quite a few times by his trainer, who refused to let up in the slightest. Still, Yuji sensed aggressiveness unlike any other day from the girl, and the question of why was yet another obstacle for him to overcome to continue on the path of being able to dodge attacks decently. At the end of this session, unlike most of the others, instead of simply criticizing the Mystes for being so untrained, Shana gave Yuji some encouragement.

"Hmmm, you're getting better, but these sessions we're having aren't enough, you should work on your own for a bit." Added the Flame Haze after giving her usual critique. Yuji, who was not familiar with the concept of Shana giving a little bit of a compliment after their morning session, was a bit confused, but replied nonetheless.

"Alright, I'll work on my own until you deem me ready for your instruction once again." Why he had such determination in his voice was a fact unknown even to him, but he sensed that it had something to do with this premonition that something that he wouldn't like would happen pretty soon.

"Okay, I'll hold you to that promise then." Shana confirmed, seeming quite assured that Yuji seemed determined enough for now to improve his work on his own. Although why the girl appeared to be so happy after hearing this the Mystes could not explain, he was so determined to follow through on his statement that he didn't mind Shana turning it into a promise despite the fact that he had said no such thing.

After the early training was done, Yuji quickly ran inside to tidy up and get ready for school, leaving Shana to talk with Alastor, the Flame of Heavens.

"Hey, Alastor, are you sure we should…" Shana inquired of her Contractor, unsure if she should continue on the path she had just recently decided to take.

"Yes, we should. We do not need to stick around much longer. We will depart tonight. Be ready by then." Confirmed Alastor, with his voice unwavering during his statement.

The duo then proceeded to school, were the one teacher who still dared to challenge Yukari Hirai to a battle of the wits was promptly defeated in mere seconds and three statements. As he ran from the room, Yuji chalked up Shana's newfound determination to be the result of a burst of energy and nothing more. He was pretty far off the mark, too.

When lunchtime approached and Ogata invited everyone to come and eat lunch, with Keisaku and Eita still refusing, Kazumi was still trying to find a way to get closer to Yuji. She realized that as long as Yukari Hirai was still nearby, she needed to hurry up and approach him. If she was gone, she could slow down and take things at her own pace. Still, Kazumi realized that her own love was no reason to wish someone dead, for that would be far too much.

Although Kazumi was trying to sort herself out, aside from that nothing eventful happened during lunchtime, as Yuji still didn't expect Shana to leave. As events would have it, both of the Flame Haze planned to get out of town today, although this was just coincidence, nothing more.

As they returned home to handle some more training, Shana opted that the two instead try and see how Yuji could do in things besides dodging so she could tell him a bit more of what to focus on in his training. Being swiftly defeated, Shana suggested to the boy that he find some kind of instructor so that he could learn the basics to everything before just practicing those basics much more. Then he would be able to defend himself from regular humans at least, although the people that weren't human would be far harder to handle.

At the same time this was happening, Keisaku was busy cleaning up all the liquor bottles that Margery had left lying on the floor. Surprisingly, her Contractor had been gracious enough today that he cast the purifying flames on the woman and cured her hangover in seconds. Although he had his own theories as to why this was, none of them were correct and he cursed Eita for being occupied, leaving him to handle the Chanter of Elegies by himself. Unknown to him, Margery was planning to take off soon, leaving only a note to bid farewell to the two of them.

The other Flame Haze, however, was much more emotional at the moment and decided that she would say goodbye in person. A couple hours after the sun had set, Shana jumped into Yuji's room from the rooftop, startling him.

"Whoa! Hey! Why are you in my room so early!" The Mystes shouted after jumping back a bit out of pure reflex.

"Shut up and get dressed, I want to show you something."

After stumbling to get on his clothes, Yuji followed Shana next to the river, while it was so dark that he would not have been able to see if it weren't for the lamppost right next to him.

"So? What did you want to show me?" Inquired Yuji, confused at what exactly was going on here.

"Just shut up and look around." Shana spoke out, her voice wavering slightly.

"What's so important about- ohhhh" As Yuji scanned the surrounding area, he came to the realization that there were still some people walking around, and he saw a flame in every one of them. Suddenly, one of them disappeared, and his flames scattered.

"Now then, does that remind you of anything?"

"How can it not?" Although it wasn't said outright, there was one name that was generally understood and implied at the moment, Yukari Hirai.

"I can see that you understand what I mean. Do you recognize this place?" Shana asked, her voice wavering more and more every minute. Glancing around, Yuji realized something else, this was where Shana had replaced Yukari Hirai, the girl in question, and truly entered his life. Noticing the look of realization on his face, Shana quickly continued before she could let her eyes get watery. "Yes, this is where I truly became Yukari Hirai and entered your life, you could say this is where the prologue to this whole mess ended, and where it truly began." After hesitating for a moment and wondering if she should continue, Shana decided that it would be best to do so and continued."It's also... where it all ends." The words took a bit of time to register with the Mystes, who, after noticing what she really meant, looked up from the ground and saw nothing, only a single piece of paper. Picking it up and looking at it, Yuji saw quite clearly what it was. A picture, the one they had taken on the day after he had learned the truth of the world, what was going on behind the scenes. Only, instead of an emotionless girl in the middle, it held the image of the Flaming-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter. Scribbled in messy handwriting in the bottom right corner was a note, reading "Goodbye, Yuji." Collapsing to the ground, Yuji let out a cry of anguish and blamed himself for not thinking about it earlier. Walking home, Yuji could only hope that it was all just a bad joke, and that Shana would return the next day. His hopes were crushed, however, when the teacher happily announced that Yukari Hirai was forced to move and had transferred out of school.

* * *

The ending has been rewritten, so it should be a bit better. Now then, for those problems I mentioned earlier.

1. Which terms to use.

While I tried to stay away from as many of the terms that have faced changes through the process of dubbing, like Fuzetsu and Seal, I know that they're going to come up eventually, so I must ask all that care to tell me what they would prefer I use.

2. The Kazumi/Yuji/Shana triangle

While I do have a good idea of what i want to do for it, I'm not sure if I should add a conclusion to it or keep it in the air like Season 1 did. Either way, it will be appearing in this story.

Anyways, please review and tell me how I did.


	2. Two years later

Disclaimer: I do not own anything concerning Shakugan no Shana.

Alright here's chapter 2. However, if I am to continue this, there is still one problem. As I stated at the end of the last chapter, I have no clue to which terminology to use. Please tell me, it would help if I knew. Drop a review, message me, whatever, it would be much easier if I knew what everyone preferred. If I don't get an answer, I'll just use dub terms, okay?

Also, I think that it is important to note that I have rewritten the ending to the last chapter, so you may want to read the new one over. Not that it will make that much of a difference, the same message is still conveyed, so no problems if you don't. For now, at least.

With that aside, please enjoy.

* * *

After that day, Yuji changed. It was a small change, however, and if you didn't know him before you would have a hard time telling the difference. He did change, however. While he was still as social and friendly as before, one couldn't help but feel that he was hiding something. That he wanted to keep away from everyone else, like he felt that everyone around him would face something terrible. Only he knew the true reasoning behind his sudden alteration, however, and he would share his logic with nobody.

Two years had passed since that eventful day when Shana had left Yuji's life, and he still wondered why. While he could make out some slight guesses, he just couldn't find any confidence in whatever he came up with. The Mystes suspected that he would find no resolution to his questions until he heard the answers from Shana herself. That wasn't to say that he spent all his time pondering, however. He was still very astute, and kept an eye on his surroundings, as nothing ever looked normal to him anymore. It seemed that he himself wasn't aware of his change, although he clearly perceived the sudden change in Keisaku and Eita. They were... Annoyed. It wasn't very obvious, but it seemed that they weren't content with anything right now.

And so Yuji continued his regular life. For two years, he trudged on in life, with knowledge of the all the dangers the world really faced. He knew, too. That without Shana, he could do nothing about it. He had come back from summer break one year and found that his classmate who had been bragging about going overseas died during her vacation, and was simply replaced with a Torch. He had to wonder if it was Shana or Margery that turned her into a Torch. Or if it was the perpetrators. Maybe even a new Flame Haze. This was just another question that he wouldn't know until he received word of the answer himself.

Although Yuji lived quite a mundane life those two years, he didn't waste his time, either. He remembered, remembered his promise to Shana, a promise of how he would continue training. Although Yuji wasn't arrogant enough to think that he would continue training forever, he would at least practice it a bit. That way, if he ever faced being eaten, he would at least stand a decent chance of escaping alive.

The story truly continues a little less than two years, the day after the new school term began. Yuji had just finished his morning jog and had come back home to eat breakfast, not realizing that it was so late. When he took a glance at the clock, he realized how late it was and quickly got ready and ran out the door, running at full speed towards Misaki High School. He barely arrived on time, and said a word of hello to Ike and Yoshida before taking his seat just in time, as the teacher began class the moment he sat down, as if it was planned that this would happen.

Yuji could not truthfully claim that he enjoyed class, although he didn't exactly hate it either. Either way, it passed uneventfully. After hearing that Ike had Prep school that day, he decided to walk straight home, and heading over to the CD store brought back far too many memories for his liking. This was a common occurrence, whenever he wasn't hanging out with Ike or anyone else after school, he headed straight home. Nothing else. He only truly headed out when he felt particularly nostalgic about the times he had with Shana or he really needed something. The rest of the time was just to not worry his mother, who he suspected was wondering why he had changed. She was one of the few people that Yuji truly still trusted, as he had grown distant to all but the few he was closest to when Shana left.

Sighing, Yuji decided that it wouldn't be good to stay inside all day and decided to head out to get some fresh air.

"Ike should be heading back home right now." He thought heading straight towards an intersection where he predicted the boy would be right now.

Thinking that he shouldn't shock Ike too much, Yuji called him and asked him to meet up and grab a bit to eat, to which Ike responded positively, feeling the pangs of hunger himself. As the two met and went to the nearby restaurant, Ike just couldn't help but ask about Shana, who was still known as Yukari Hirai to him.

"Say, Yuji, can I ask you something?"

Yuji, who was currently eating his spaghetti with meatballs when he heard Ike's question, stopped eating.

"Well, it depends, what about?"

"Yukari Hirai."

Yuji let out an inward sigh, the two of them had been having many talks about that girl lately, with the main focus being how their relationship had gone. It was really quite annoying sometimes, with how Ike seemed to be so set on confirming that, without a doubt, the two of them weren't in a relationship.

"Ike, we've been through this before. Nothing. Is. Or. Was. Going. On."

"I know that! But I want you to tell me where she is right now! Surely you must know that! I want to hear the story from her, as well!"

"I don't know!" Yuji stood and yelled out, clearly having been enraged by how persistent Ike was. That, and the topic of Shana's departure had always been tough for Yuji. No matter how much he didn't want it to be true, he knew that he couldn't keep denying reality like he had been after being so suddenly thrust into this world of consumption and replacement.

"How can you not know! You were the closest to her, you have to know! This is even more suspicious now, Yuji!" Ike argued. It seemed that it had been firmly established in his mind that Yukari Hirai was still in contact with Yuji Sakai, while the truth was exactly the opposite. Yukari Hirai, or Shana, was determined to keep her current whereabouts a secret from the Mystes that wouldn't be dying anytime soon.

Just as Yuji was about to yell back, he took a quick glance at the surrounding area and surmised that he was causing a scene. Sitting back down, Yuji lowered his voice and apologized to Ike, saying that he really didn't know. Ike, on the other hand, realized how rash and uncontrolled he had been and apologized himself. He really didn't know what had brought him to do that. Although he had a rough idea, he refused to admit it to himself until the truth became blatantly clear.

The two friends then continued their meal uneventfully in silence, trying to ignore the stares from their argument that were slowly fading away. As the two hastily finished and paid for the bill, they exited the restaurant and realized how late it was, with Ike running off and saying something about how his parents would kill him if he didn't get back anytime soon. Watching his friend run off, Yuji wondered if he really was in that big of a rush and what would happen if he was late before shaking his head and focusing on heading home. He should get home soon, as he remembered his mother saying something about needed help with dinner today. Running towards his house, Yuji was just hoping that he would get home before his mother thought he wasn't coming and started something easier. Luckily, he got home with just a few minutes to spare, and assisted his mother in preparing their dinner for the day.

A couple hours after dinner, after Yuji had finished doing everything he needed to that day, Yuji went to bed rather quickly. And such ended the second day after school had started for Misaki High School, the day before Flame Hazes and everything associated with them would become a regular part of Yuji's life once again.

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That's the end of it. Please review.


	3. A change

Disclaimer: I do not own anything concerning Shakugan no Shana.

To the small minority of people that actually bothered reading this, you though I forgot about it, didn't you? Well, I didn't, but I did have this written for a couple of months, sadly. Anyways, since I did say I would update everything on this day, here it is.

* * *

Yuji awoke that day thinking it would be like any other for the last two years. Normal. Without any involvement of the mysterious world he had dabbled in some time ago. Finishing up breakfast quickly, Yuji ran off after getting dressed, when his calling back to the mysterious world came surging through his body.

Although it had been two years since he had experienced it, Yuji would never forget the tingling sensation that came with a Seal being set up near him. The sensation that he was feeling right now. Before he knew why, Yuji found himself running towards the Seal, his thoughts in a state of disorder.

Keisaku and Eita were entering school when something started rumbling in each of their pockets. Pulling the item out, they quickly discovered that it was the charm that Margery had left with them before her departure, signifying a Seal in its own way. Looking at each other, the two of them made eye contact. Each of them wanted to go, but assumed that the other didn't. Without a single word being spoken, both boys walked into the classroom, away from the Seal.

Elsewhere on the globe, Margery Daw, having regained some of the fighting instinct lost by her defeat at the hands of the Flaming-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter, walked down the streets of England. The woman walked with so much confidence that all the attention drawn to her was ignored. Suddenly, however, she stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted Sydonay among the nearby crowds. Striding past Margery, Sydonay whispered silently into her ear.

"I'm heading to Misaki City. If you want some fun, I suggest you head over there as well."

Margery stood there, stunned. When she finally registered what Sydonay had just said in her mind, she turned around, but by that time, he had disappeared.

With these events, all were called and reminded of the Crimson World, things would have gone the way they would had the Flame Hazes not left, with the encounter with the siblings leading up to the showdown with the Bel Masque. However, the Flaming-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter, Shana, also had her own calling which would lead her to this ending, and she chose not to take it.

Shana was exhausted and wounded. For the past few weeks, she had been chased around by the siblings after the Nietono no Shana. Although it was clear that she would be defeated eventually, Shana refused to abandon her blade. Pulling out Azure, the flame-repelling ring she had taken before she departed from Misaki City and staring at it, Shana felt the siblings reactivating their special Seal, and looked up to see them above her. Dodging a downward slice from Soriel, who had jumped down first, Shana retaliated by jumping towards him. Thrusting out her arm to stab the boy, Shana was about to hit when her opponent blocked the blow with his sword, and then proceeded to channel his Power of Existence into the sword, cutting up Shana. The boy then kicked Shana, causing her to fall back and slide back a few feet. Looking up at Soriel, Shana had forgotten about Tiriel, which proved to be a fatal mistake, as Soriel had thrown his weapon towards the Flame Haze, who responded by rolling to the side, right next to Tiriel's feet.

Shana ha a look of surprise on her face as the one she had landed next to proceeded to raise her in the air with the vine of one of their flowers, which just happened to be nearby. When Shana had been binded and became unable to move, a different vine whipped her hand, releasing her grip on the Nietono no Shana. With much joy on his face, Soriel ran over and picked up the long sword, ecstatically swinging it around. After a couple seconds of this, Soriel approached her brother, and suggested that he try attacking their captured prey. Nodding enthusiastically, the boy raised the sword into the air, and somehow managed to ignite the blade, and then slowly approached Shana. The boy swung, and was knocked back when Azure deflected the fire coming out of Nietono no Shana.

Growling, Soriel demanded to know what had just happened, and when he received his answer and of Azure's power, the boy went in for the kill again, this time without the fire.

"Put your head down, quickly!"

Not knowing what else to do, Shana obeyed the command of her contractor, and put her head down. Without warning, a white ribbon shot out from behind Shana, hitting Soriel so hard the the Nietono no Shana was knocked out of his hands, and another ribbon grabbed the sword, swinging it in a way that cut up all the vines binding Shana.

Walking over to her sword and claiming possession of it again, shana looked behind her to see Wilhelmina, jumping next to Shana.

"That was a close situation, indeed."

"Wilhelmina! What are you doing here?"

"Rumors of the Bal Masque moving again have been circulating. I will deal with these two, you shall head to Misaki City to hinder the Bal Masquw's plans."

Instead of leaving for Misaki City like she was supposed to, Shana stayed put and pointed her sword towards the siblings.

"No, I'm fighting them as well."

"If you insist."

And, as such, the Flaming-Haired Blazing-Eyed Hunter performed an unforeseen action, and fate changed its course to deal with this sudden change in its predicted path.

* * *

You know, I seriously need to rewrite this sometime soon, it just seems a bit off.


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